Commentary by Travis V. Meyer
(OMNS Sept 3, 2013) Recently, while browsing the news, I found yet another article trashing vitamins: “Stop swallowing vitamins and the claims about their effects, doctors urge.” (http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/08/13/daily-circuit-vitamins-health)
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I found this article interesting due to some of the outrageous statements made in the article by a Dr. Paul Offit and Dr. Donald Hensrud. I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m not in the health industry, nor do I have any advanced degrees in health sciences (my masters is in business administration, not healthcare). Still, some of these claims are so outrageous you wonder how they can print this stuff with a good conscience.
Here are just some quotes from the article that had me shaking my head, along with my own layman’s opinion regarding such statements:
“Vitamin pills are not merely of uncertain benefit. In some cases, and especially in large doses, they are downright dangerous.”
This is a very charged statement, as it is asserting that you are potentially risking your life by talking supplements in large doses. However, where is the evidence supporting claims that vitamins in large doses are “downright dangerous”? I have read articles that exalt the values of mega-dose vitamin therapy, and all of them have had one thing in common: references to the scientific research backing up their position. If the article is to be believed, it should specify which vitamins are so “dangerous” and precisely what that means, with abundant supporting citations.
Analysis of US poison control center annual report data indicates that there have been no confirmed deaths from vitamins in the 28 years that such data has been available. (http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v07n05.shtml)
How about this statement:
“Megavitamins contain many times greater than the recommended daily allowance. Five times, 10 times, sometimes 20 times more. And I think therein danger lies. There are a number of studies showing that you can actually get too much of a good thing, that this can actually increase your risk of cancer and heart disease. I think most people don’t know that.”
I have to admit that this was surprising to me. In fact, I’ve never seen even one reliable study showing that taking vitamins in any dose can increase my risk of cancer and heart disease. Again, I’d love to see this great number of studies. Logic dictates if vitamins were that dangerous, and had a number of studies supporting this claim, that this news would have been put out long ago, especially since big pharma would be popping champagne and sending their propaganda officers into overtime if such news came out. Not to mention the safety alerts and probable market withdrawals of said vitamins. And that brings me to another point. Many prescription drugs can be hazardous to health, and several big money makers have had to be withdrawn because of dangerous side effects. Compared to drugs, vitamins look pretty safe to me.